cliff. >> reporter: they hoped congress would reach a short-term deal with the white house until congress could consider an overhaul of the tax code, but the president and lawmakers are out on the campaign trail, so they wait, jon. jon: so what do congress and the president need to do to work out this all, you know, uncertainty and handle this fiscal cliff issue? >> reporter: well, jon, it's a huge list of items that are now being saved until after election day. let's take a look. the sequester, those automatic cuts as part of last year's debt deal, income taxes, rates go up, the marriage penalty is due to return, the alternative minimum tax which would effect millions more people, the estate tax, size will drop. the rates on taxable estates will jump. capital rates and dividends will increase. social security payroll taxes due to a jump from 4.2% to 6.2%, and then you've got popular deductions and credits like the child tax credit, some adoption benefits would all go away, then you've got extended unemployment benefits and, of course, the medicare doc fix. here are the top congressional